What a beauty Bowie, but what does it weigh?

By
JARROD WOOLLEY

SLIM Dusty once sang about having a beer with Duncan, but at the Woolsthorpe Hotel you can have a beer with a massive pumpkin.

SLIM Dusty once sang about having a beer with Duncan, but at the Woolsthorpe Hotel you can have a beer with a massive pumpkin.

Woolsthorpe Hotel publican John Bowd with the giant pumpkin.

Propped up in the bar is a locally grown pumpkin that is estimated to weigh about 100 kilograms. The huge pumpkin has become the talk of the tiny town.

Woolsthorpe resident Kevin Bowman grew the pumpkin and brought it to the pub on Monday afternoon, where it fast become a hot topic of discussion.

Hotel owner John Bowd has decided to help raise funds for the local hall, running a guess-the-weight game.

It has since been nicknamed Bowie’s Beauty. Mr Bowman said he had a suspicion the pumpkin would be a decent size, but he never expected the final result. “It’s an Atlantic giant variety. I got the seeds in Ballarat a couple of years ago and I decided to put a couple in the ground this year,” he said.

“There were a couple of flowers on the vine but all the nutrient seemed to go to this one pumpkin and it just kept growing. There was no special fertilisers or anything like that, just water and compost.”

Mr Bowman said he knows the exact weight of the pumpkin, but is keeping that information close to his chest.

Mr Bowd said when they came up with the idea to run a guess-the-weight competition, Mr Bowman suggested any money raised go towards a Woolsthorpe-based group.

“It’s a gold coin donation and all the money raised will go to the Woolsthorpe Community Hall,” he said.

“I’ve certainly never seen a pumpkin that big and most people who have been in have said the same thing. Everyone is talking about it. It’s quite amazing. It took two men to lift it up on to the table, so I reckon it weighs around 100kg.”